We're Not Greece!!!

In a recent presidential debate, Republican candidate Mitt Romney argued that, under Obama’s leadership, the United States was on the road to a debt crisis like Greece’s.

But “fiscal cliffers” such as Romney, Speaker John Boehner and other Tea Party co-horts should note: America is not Greece.

I say
this from a very personal and professional frame of reference. I am both
a U.S. and Greek citizen, and I have lived and worked in both countries
as a banker and as a local taxpaying citizen. I also have a strong
knowledge of both Greek and American history and culture. Unlike
agenda-toting politicians and policymakers, I have “been there and done
that” in both countries.

So, let’s
talk about the comparison. Both Greece and the United States are highly
indebted, but what happened in Greece—in this case, economic
collapse—will not necessarily happen in America, unless you follow the
“cliffers” ’ agenda: calling for a choking austerity that throws out the
baby with the bathwater. This “therapy” has changed nothing in Greece
but instead has caused accelerated suffering.

Let’s discuss why America is not Greece. First of all, the U.S. is spread across a
continent, and has vast mineral, agricultural and energy resources,
coupled with the most advanced and flexible labor and capital markets on
Earth. Innovation and creativity
still have a U.S. address, and the U.S. dollar is not only our
currency, but the global reserve currency. If we want to devalue it, we
can. Greece has none of these attributes.

Though
breathtakingly beautiful and soulful, Greece is a mountainous country of
11 million citizens inhabiting a landmass considerably smaller than the
state of Utah (51,000 square miles versus 86,000 for the Beehive
State). While the country produces some of the tastiest and healthiest
food on the planet, Greece is hardly an agricultural powerhouse. Other
than tourism and shipping, Greece is among the least competitive
countries in the Western world.

Of
course, vast natural and agricultural resources alone will not save a
country. But here we come to the real reasons why America is not Greece:
civics and culture. America was built on strong, flexible democratic
institutions by people who (generally) valued the rule of law. Greece
emerged via a heroic but haphazard rebellion out of the wreckage of the
Ottoman Empire, after 500 years of Turkish rule. Half a millennium is a
long time, and the Greeks had absorbed Ottoman modes of governance over
the course of the centuries. Ottoman rule was capricious and cruel but
could always be leavened with graft. A government position was not a
public trust, but a means to access and to plunder the public purse. Notwithstanding Greece’s emergence in the family of European nations, the methods and
mentality of government remained locked in a corrupt, cronyistic past.
Like their Turkish predecessors, office holding for Greek public
servants provides a means to enrich oneself and one’s circle, rather
than to develop the country. It is no surprise that the Greeks’
well-known talent for entrepreneurial energy was most pronounced in
shipping—which was not tied to Greece—and to emigration abroad.

Not much of this has changed. Recently, a pair of Greek techies, after years of trying to establish a business
in Greece, decamped to California where they incorporated—online in 15
minutes—and ended up selling their app to Google. Were the Greek
bureaucracy less concerned with obstruction and graft, this company
could have been Greek.

Ultimately,
the most successful and freest societies are those with a culture—of
governance, of economics and of society—that respects individual genius
and eccentricity and fosters transparency. Greece does not fit this
category, and this is why that country is on the constant edge of a
fiscal cliff.

Ironically,
while membership in the European Union was supposed to modernize
Greece, the flow of structural funds from Brussels had the opposite
effect, keeping Greece’s calcified system afloat. A wall of money from
the E.U. suddenly democratized graft and provided Greek politicians and
officials the opportunity to expand civil service as a patronage tool
and to dole out funds heretofore unavailable. Until recently, few
questions were asked in the clubby atmosphere of Brussels, and in any
event, the E.U. Commission had no powers analogous to the U.S. federal
government.

Embracing
the Euro resulted in a spending binge; Greece could borrow at a
vicarious German credit rating, consumer interest rates plummeted, and
the government and people went on a spending spree. Not just in Greece,
but in Spain, Portugal and Italy—countries whose cultures tolerate
corruption more readily than countries from northern Europe.

Beyond
the ludicrous economic comparison between America and Greece, there is a
great deal we in the United States can learn from Greece. First, that
choking austerity in economic hardship does just that—it chokes. Second,
that the real deficits in many parts of Europe, most illustratively in
Greece, are civic and cultural, rather than financial; every time a
political and economic upheaval happens elsewhere in the world, their
loss is America’s gain. The best and brightest, and the most hardworking
and optimistic, make their way here.

While the
U.S. deficit is too high, and living beyond our means is both
irresponsible and dangerous, in analyzing an economy, you need to look
beyond the numbers to the underlying culture. This is America’s greatest
asset, and Greece’s greatest liability.

Hellenic League of America

Visitors

Feedjit

Members

Member

Αναγνώστες

We are in FaceBook

Οnline Νewspapers

Our Board

Contact us at

hlautahchapter@gmail.com

About Us

The Hellenic League of America, HLA’s name was inspired by the many different ancient confederations of Hellenic City-states which banded together in ‘leagues’. Such famous Hellenic Leagues were the Ionian League, the Italiote League, the Arcadian League, the Achaean League, the Peloponnesian League, the Chalkidian League, the Boeotian League, the Cretan League and the Delian League. However, our main inspiration is found in the League of Corinth, commonly referred to as the Hellenic League. Originally created under Philip II of Macedon, the Hellenic League was led by Megas Alexandros in his great campaign against the Persian Empire. It is in this spirit of brotherhood and unity that the HLA takes its name.

The 16 points of Hellenic Advocacy: The 16 points of Vergina

Pan-Hellenism

|

|

|

Culture ---------------------------------------------- Education

|

|

|

Nationalism

Pan-Hellenism

To Foster Unity between all Hellenic-American Organizations nationwide

2. To Foster the rebirth of lost branches of Hellenism, such as Italiote Hellenism

3. To organize and promote Pan-Hellenic events and gatherings

Nationalism

To foster healthy Nationalistic feelings in Hellenic-America for our ancestral homeland, culturally and socially; preparing Hellenic-American youth for active participation in the Hellenic-American Community

2. To advocate and support a return to our Hellenic homelands by encouraging a return to the lands under the legal jurisdiction of the current Hellenic State. To advocate and support cultural awareness of our ancestral homeland of Hellas; as well as our historical Hellenic homelands of Magna Graecia, Northern Epirus, Pelagonia, Northern and Eastern Thrace, Anatolia, Pontos and the ‘Right to return’ to Cyprus after the island has been freed of all Turkish settlers and Military occupation.

3. To foster the concept of aggressive advocacy in the United States for Issues concerning Hellenism; to battle against the stigma of ‘Nationalism’

Culture

To promote and encourage interest and research in to our ancient traditions and culture